Panel and post assembly

ABSTRACT

A sheet-like panel is held in place by a post. The post has a longitudinal internal channel, with a longitudinal opening through one of the outer walls of the post into the channel. A longitudinal groove in the post forms a part of the channel, and the groove is positioned in a side of the channel opposite from the longitudinal opening and laterally displaced from that opening. The sheet-like panel has a large area surface that terminates along one edge thereof in a first edge portion which is substantially at right angles to the large area surface and a second edge portion substantially parallel to that surface. The outer edge of the second edge portion constitutes one of the outer edges of the sheet-like panel and is positioned inside the longitudinal groove forming part of the longitudinal internal channel. One side of the first edge portion is positioned against an outwardly exposed part of the post. The other side of the first edge portion is positioned against an internal wall of the channel substantially opposite from the longitudinal groove. In this fashion the sheet-like panel is maintained firmly in position.

[451 Dec. 11, 1973 PANEL AND POST ASSEMBLY Primary Examiner-Thomas F.Callaghan Inventor: Andreas Christen, Zurich, Ass'stam ExaminerwayneShedd Switzerland Attorney-Robert Scobey, Robert S. Dunham, Pern E. IHenninger, Lester W. Clark, Gerald W. Griffin, A s g Knoll New York,Thomas F. Moran, Howard J. Churchill, R. Bradlee Boal, Christopher C.Dunham and Henry T. Burke Filed: May 28, 1971 AB TR T Appl. No.: 147,829[57] s AC V V A sheet-like panel is held 111 place by a post. The posthas a longitudinal internal channel, with a longitudinal opening throughone of the outer walls of the post into United States Patent Christen 7Claims, 13 Drawing Figures the channel. A longitudinal groove in thepost forms a part of the channel, and the groove is positioned in a sideof the channel opposite from the longitudinal opening and laterallydisplaced from that opening. The sheet-like panel has a large areasurface that terminates along one edge thereof in a first edge portionwhich is substantially at right angles to the large area surface and asecond edge portion substantially parallel to that surface. The outeredge of the second edge portion constitutes one of the outer edges ofthe sheetlike panel and is positioned inside the longitudinal grooveforming part of the longitudinal internal channel. One side of the firstedge portion is positioned against an outwardly exposed part of thepost. The other side of the first edge portion is positioned against aninternal wall of the channel substantially opposite from thelongitudinal groove. In this fashion the sheet-like panel is maintainedfirmly in position.

amt/J7 SHEET 2 BF 4 PAIENTEDHEI: 1 1 ms PAIENTED DEC 1 1 I975 SHEET t[If 4 PANEL AND POST ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THEINVENTION This invention relates to the field of office landscaping.More particularly, it provides a panel system suitable for providing awork station.

In the office landscape field, many attempts have been made to providemodular furniture. While many different types of modular furniture havebeen produced, many are complicated and cumbersome to produce andassemble. Many modular units do not have the flexibility in use that isnecessary to render them adaptable to different environments.

The present invention is directed to providing a basic panel systemwhich is simple to produce and assemble and which is sufficientlyflexible in use as to render it adaptable to many differentenvironments. A panel system in accordance with the present inventionutilizes a sheet-like panel, typically of sheet metal. A post structureis utilized which may be extruded from metal, for example, to hold oneor more panels in place. The post structure utilizes a novel channelarrangement, to be described in detail below, in order to firmly securepanels in place.

The following US. patents are representative of the prior art in thefield of the present invention:

Patentee Patent No. Issued Vervloet 3,378,977 23 Apr. 1968 Luss3,189,140 15 June 1965 Beckman 3,449,877 17 June 1969 Cripe 3,261,625 19July 1966 Wilson 3,159,250 1 Dec. 1964 Mutchnik 3,011,229 5 Dec. 1961BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of apanel and post assembly in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 1, taken to anenlarged scale and along the section 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3, 5, 6 and 7 are sectional views taken along the correspondingsections in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the details of assemblyof the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of part of two panels used in the system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a retaining lug used in the system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of another panel and post assemblyembodying the invention;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view, to an enlarged scale, of the assembly ofFIG. 10, taken along the section 1lll in FIG. 10;

FIGS. 12 and 13 are side and bottom views of a trim piece used in theassembly of FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION are employed in conjunction with panel-supportingmembers 40 and 42 along with lower trim pieces and 46 and upper trimpieces 48 and 50 for supporting and maintaining the side and back panelsin place.

The exploded perspective view of FIG. 4 will be helpful in understandingthe panel and post assembly of the present invention. The side panel 24is in fact composed of two parts, namely, an inside panel part 24a andan outside panel part 24b. Each panel part is sheetlike, and may beadvantageously formed from sheet metal. Taking the inside panel part 24aas representative, tthe panel has a large area surface 24al thatterminates along one edge thereof in a first edge portion 24a-2 that issubstantially at right angles to the large area surface 24a-l as well asa second edge portion 24a-3 that is parallel to the large area surface24a-1. The outer edge of the second edge portion 24a3 constitutes one ofthe outer edges of the sheet-like panel 24a. This edge of the panel 24ais firmly maintained in position by part of the vertical post 38, now tobe described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

For supporting the sheet-like panel 24a, the corner post 38 includes alongitudinal internal channel 38a therein. There is a longitudinalopening 38b through one of the outer walls of the post 38 that opensinto the channel 38a. There is also a longitudinal groove 38al in thepost that forms a part of the longitudinal internal channel 380. Thelongitudinal groove 38a-l is positioned in a side of the channel that isopposite from the longitudinal opening 38b and is laterally displacedfrom that opening. To elaborate, and with respect to FIG. 5, thelongitudinal groove 3811-1 may be considered as being located in theright-hand, rear corner of the channel 38a, while the longitudinalopening 38b may be considered to be located at the left-hand, frontcorner of the channel 38a.

Still with reference to FIG. 5, the outer side of the first edge portion24a-2 is positioned against an outwardly exposed part 380 of the post 38that is adjacent to the longitudinal opening 38b. The inner side of thefirst edge portion 24a-2 is positioned against an internal wall of thechannel 38a (the internal wall is designated 38a-2). It should be notedthat the right-hand edge of the panel 24a (as viewed in FIGS. 4 and 5)is positioned within the longitudinal groove 38a-1.

With the first edge portion 24a-2 of the panel 24a being positionedagainst the outwardly exposed part 38c of the post 38 and the internalwall 38a-2 of the channel 38a, the panel 240 cannot be moved either tothe right or the left with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. The positioningof the right-hand edge of the panel 24a in the longitudinal groove 38a-1also inhibits the movement of the panel to the right. The positioning ofthis right-hand edge in this groove also prevents the panel 24a frommoving outwardly (the downward direction with respect to FIG. 5).

The panel 24a is maintained in position by channel arrangements as justdescribed in both posts 36 and 38. The same is true for the panel 24b.As shown in FIG.

4, the two panels 24a and 24b include top flanges.

24a-4 and 24b-4 (see also FIG. 8). The trim piece 50 shown in FIG. 4 ispositioned over the top flanges 24a-4 and 24b-4 and is held in place bybolts such as 52 shown in FIG. 4. Each bolt 52 is threaded into acorresponding hole in one of the corner posts, (for example, the bolt 52shown in FIG. 4 is threaded into the hole 36d in the corner post 36').

A similar trim piece 46 is positioned at the bottoms of panels 24a and24b (see FIGS. 4 and 6). The lower trim piece 46 may be secured to thecorner posts 36 and 38 in the same fashion as the top trim piece 50,i.e., by the use of bolts 52 (see FIG. 2). As shown in FIG. 2 levelingfeet 54 may be employed held by inserts 56 that are positioned in thelower trim pieces 44 and 46. The leveling feet are adjusted to provide asuitable leveling of the work station.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, panel-supporting members 40 and 42 areemployed to maintain the back panel 26 in place. The two members 40 and42 are identical, and are typically extruded. The panelsupporting member42 will be described in detail. It includes upper and lower channels 42aand 42b. These channels are for supporting a panel such as the sheetlikepanel 26 shown in FIG. 4, whose upper edge is positioned within thechannel 42b. The panel-supporting members are maintained in position bya retaining lug 60. The lug is shown in detail in FIG. 9 and includes anend 60a that is shaped to fit into and slide withincorrespondingly-shaped groove 38e (for example) in the corner post 38shown in FIG. 4. The retaining lug 60 includes a slot 60b therethroughfor the purpose of maintaining a wedge 62. In practice, the retaininglug 60 is positioned within the channel 382 (the channel constitutes alongitudinal external groove in one of the outer surfaces of the cornerpost 38) and is moved to some vertical position desired. Thepanel-supporting member 42 is positioned so that a channel 42c thereinengages the lug 60. Next, the wedge 62 is positioned as shown in FIG. 7.With reference to that figure, the lefthand edge of the wedge is againstsurfaces 42d, 42e and 42f in the panel-supporting member 42. Theright-hand edge of the wedge 62 is positioned against surface 60c of theretaining lug 60. As the wedge 62 is driven downwardly, the left-handend of the panel-supporting member 42 is firmly urged against the outersurface of the post 38 that is adjacent thereto. At the same time theend 60a of the retaining lug 60 is urged into firm engagement with thewalls of the channel or longitudinal external groove 38a so as tomaintain the retaining lug 60 and the panel-supporting member 42 infixed longitudinal position (vertical position) with respect to thecorner post 38.

With reference to FIGS. 4 and 7, it should be noted that the wedge 62includes a notched portion 62a. The notched portion is utilized inconnection with removal of the wedge 62 in connection with thedismantling of the work station. Typically, the end of a screwdriver isinserted into the notched portion 62a, and the wedge is pried upwardlyin order to remove it to permit disassembly of the work station.

It should be noted that any number of corner post arrangements may beemployed for the purpose of making a work station. As shown in FIG. 4,the corner post 36 simply is for holding the panels 24a and 24b(specifically the left-hand edges of the two panels). Thus, thecorner-post need not provide for the retention of any other panels. Thepost 38, on the other hand, not only is for the purpose of holding thepanels 24a and 24b (specifically the right-hand edges thereof) but isalso suitable for holding the panel 26 (by virtue of the groove 38c) andanother panel (not shown) that would be in line with the panel 26' andwhich would be maintained in position by groove 38f in the corner post.

FIGS. 10-l3 show another form of post similar to the tion such as shownin FIG. 10. In this case a front unit 70a and a rear unit 70b areseparated by back panel 72. The back panel 72 is maintained in place byupper and lower trim pieces 74 and 76 that may be the same as the upperand lower trim pieces 42 and 40 described above in connection withFIG. 1. Posts 78, 80, 82 and 84 are the same as posts 34 and 36 in theassembly of FIG. 1. Center posts 86 and 88 are similar to the posts 32and 38 in the assembly of FIG. 1. The center post 86 shown in FIG. 11 isthe same as the comer post 38 shown in FIG. 4, except that there arefour longitudinal internal channels 860 corresponding to the twolongitudinal internal channels 38a of the corner post 38. In thisfashion the center post 86 may be used to hold in position panels 90aand 90b as well as panels 92a and 92b.

FIGS. 12 and 13 show trim piece 94 which is used in connection with theassembly of FIG. 10. The trim piece 94 is the same as the trim piece 50,for example, shown in FIG. 4, except that it includes a middle portion94a to accommodate a bolt 52 such as shown in FIG. 4 that is threadedinto hole 86d forming a part of the center post 86.

It will be appreciated that structure embodying the present invention issimple to make and simple to as semble. The sheet-like panels aresimplyslid into place along their edges within the longitudinal internalchannels (such as channel 38a of FIG. 4) or within the longitudinalexternal grooves (such as the groove 38s in FIG. 4). Simple positioningof the retaining lugs 60 and panel-supporting members (such as themember 42 shown in FIG. 4) provides for the simple positioning of singlepanels such as the panel 26 shown in FIG. 4. The positioning andmaintaining in place of trim pieces (such as the trim pieces 46 and 50shown in FIG. 4) completes the fabrication of a work unit, except forthe placement of shelves, such as shelf 28 and desk surface 30 in FIG.1.

One of the advantages of the present invention is that many pieces areidentical (e.g., upper and lower trim pieces 40 and 42 and panels 24aand 24b) and may be used on right and left sides (e.g., posts 38 and36), i.e., orientation of parts is not crucial, thereby facilitatingmanufacture by reducing the number of different parts required.

It will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible ofmodification. Accordingly, the invention should be taken to be definedby the following claims.

I claim:

1. A post for securing a sheet-like panelin place, said post having alongitudinal internal channel therethrough, a longitudinal openingthrough one of the outer walls of said post into said channel, and alongitudinal groove in said post forming a part of said channel, saidgroove being positioned in a side of said channel opposite from saidlongitudinal opening and laterally displaced from said longitudinalopening.

2. A post according to claim 1, in combination with a sheet-like panel,said panel having a large area surface terminating along one edgethereof in a first edge portion substantially at right angles to saidlarge area surface and a second edge portion substantially parallel tosaid large area surface, the outer edge of said second edge-portionconstituting the outer edge of said sheetlike panel and being positionedinside said longitudinal groove.

3. A post according to claim 2, in which one side of said first edgeportion is positioned against an outwardly exposed part of said post,and the other side of said first edge portion is positioned against aninternal wall of said channel substantially opposite from saidlongitudinal groove.

4. A post according to claim 1, including a longitudinal external groovein one of the outer surfaces of said post to accommodate the edge of asheet-like panel.

5. A post according to claim 4, including a retaining lug slidable insaid longitudinal external groove, a panel-supporting member engagingsaid lug and supported thereby, and wedge means urging said retaininglug against a wall of said longitudinal external channel secured to oneend of said post.

1. A post for securing a sheet-like panel in place, said post having alongitudinal internal channel therethrough, a longitudinal openingthrough one of the outer walls of said post into said channel, and alongitudinal groove in said post forming a part of said channel, saidgroove being positioned in a side of said channel opposite from saidlongitudinal opening and laterally displaced from said longitudinalopening.
 2. A post according to claim 1, in combination with asheet-like panel, said panel having a large area surface terminatingalong one edge thereof in a first edge portion substantially at rightangles to said large area surface and a second edge portionsubstantially parallel to said large area surface, the outer edge ofsaid second edGe portion constituting the outer edge of said sheet-likepanel and being positioned inside said longitudinal groove.
 3. A postaccording to claim 2, in which one side of said first edge portion ispositioned against an outwardly exposed part of said post, and the otherside of said first edge portion is positioned against an internal wallof said channel substantially opposite from said longitudinal groove. 4.A post according to claim 1, including a longitudinal external groove inone of the outer surfaces of said post to accommodate the edge of asheet-like panel.
 5. A post according to claim 4, including a retaininglug slidable in said longitudinal external groove, a panel-supportingmember engaging said lug and supported thereby, and wedge means urgingsaid retaining lug against a wall of said longitudinal external channeland an end of said panel-supporting member against said one outersurface of said post to retain said lug and panel-supporting member infixed longitudinal position.
 6. A post according to claim 1, including asecond longitudinal internal channel, said two longitudinal internalchannels being used to support two sheet-like panels in opposingrelationship.
 7. A post according to claim 1, including a trim piecesecured to one end of said post.